Maybe It's Fate
by Amethyst Jackson
Summary: Romantic D/H fluff written for Valentine's Day, 2002. It was a spur-of-the-moment piece; don't expect much.


I thought it was time Draco got something out of all my fanfic writing, so, I give you this small piece of work, in which I reverse my whole view of the fandom universe. (It's madness, I tell you!)

Maybe It's Fate

He walked the streets alone, his leather duster flailing behind him in the wind. He was freezing but didn't mind. The cold was exhilarating.

How he had come to be alone on Valentine's Day, Draco didn't know. He was a complete magnet when it came to women, or so he thought, and he could have had a date, had he wanted one. The thing was, he didn't want just any date, or just any woman. He wanted one, and only one.

Draco, for reasons deep or shallow, he didn't know, found himself longing for someone he knew could never be his. She was in love with someone else, completely unattainable. This girl was the type that could really piss off his father, the type he could flaunt. After all, if anyone could steal Harry Potter's girlfriend, Draco Malfoy could.

But getting Hermione Granger was a ridiculous impossibility, even for Draco. He didn't understand why he wanted her in the first place. She was everything he was supposed to hate, a muggle-born, Gryffindor, anti-Voldemort. Hermione was forbidden; perhaps that was what fueled the attraction.

So, here he was, walking the icy cold roads of Hogsmeade. It wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend, or, for that matter, a weekend at all, but rules were a thing beyond Draco.

Despite the fact that he loved the chill, Draco decided to warm up with a butterbeer, or possibly something stronger. A Mai Tai would be nice, he thought.

The last thing he expected to see, as he entered the Three Broomsticks, was Harry and Hermione sitting in a booth in the corner, sharing a bottle of butterbeer with the use of two straws (which he found quite disgusting).

He managed to get a Mai Tai with a convenient green umbrella from the bar and sat down at a small table in a corner diagonal from Harry and Hermione, where he sat watching the two.

After ten minutes or so, the couple got up to leave. At the door, he caught Hermione saying, "You know, Harry, I've got to pick up some more, er, parchment. Why don't you go on back without me?"

"I'll come with you. I don't mind," said Harry, furrowing his eyebrows at her.

"No, go on back. I – I need to pick up another book, too, so it's going to take awhile."

"If you're sure –"

"Yes, go on," Hermione insisted. Harry left the pub, giving the bell on the door a ring, but Hermione didn't. To his surprise, Hermione walked right towards him, looking directly into his eyes.

"So, why is the sex god Draco Malfoy all alone on Valentine's Day?" she asked, pulling out and sitting down in the chair across from him.

"Why are you even talking to me?" he questioned, leaning back in his chair to make it look like he was only making conversation.

"Curiosity," she replied. "You going to answer my question or keep dodging it?"

"I'm all by my lonesome because I want to be," Draco snapped.

Hermione snorted. "You're just having girl troubles."

"Am not."

"Oh, yes, you are. Who's the unachievable lady?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business."

"I'd say it is. You've been staring at Harry and I this whole time, so I figure you where either eyeing me, or there's something else I should know. Having problems coming out of the closet?"

Draco glared at her. "I was NOT staring at Potter."

"So it was me."

"Don't let it go to your head."

Hermione leaned forward and stared very firmly at him. "Why do you want me?"

"What?"

"Why do you want me?" she asked again, more insistently.

"I honestly don't know," said Draco.

He didn't understand why, but suddenly he was uncharacteristically nervous.

"You know, Harry said the same thing the first time I asked him that. I didn't understand it. We had been friends for so long, and nothing more, and all of the sudden he's got fluffy pink bunny feelings for me. I understand that now, though – he fell in love without even realizing it, thinking it was all friendship.

"What I want to know is, is that what's going on with you, too? Because you're not the type to spontaneously fall in love, especially at the root of mutual burning hatred. So, what's your motive? There's got to be one. Trying to hack off dear Lucius, want revenge on Harry, what?"

"Both good guesses, and probably true," Draco replied, wondering why he was being so candid with this girl. "But there's something else there."

"Well, I'm guessing it's not physical attraction, what with my looks."

"Don't say that. You've got damn good looks."

Hermione blushed. "Thanks."

"Why are you doing this?" Draco inquired. "You could have just ignored it."

"It's kind of hard to ignore something you want."

"Wait a second, you, er, want…me? What about Potter?"

"Don't get me wrong – I love Harry, but…I'm just not in love with him. And why am I telling you this?"

"You're stringing him on?"

"I just can't break up with him, Draco. I can't hurt him like that."

"I think it will probably hurt worse if you end up objecting to your own marriage."

"I know I've got to end it… I just have to wait until things are better for Harry. He's under so much stress."

"So, what, you're just going to sneak around with other guys behind his back?"

"I never asked for a lecture on morality, especially from you," Hermione snapped.

"I – sorry. What do you say we get out of here?"

"Works for me," Hermione said.

A moment later they were outside in the algid winter wind, huddled up to keep warm. Draco couldn't help but notice just how close Hermione was to him.

"So, where are we going?" Hermione asked.

"I didn't really plan on going anywhere," Draco responded, glancing at her.

"Well, can we find an alley or something? To get out of the wind and all…"

"Yeah, come on," Draco said, taking her by the arm and steering her over to an alley he knew well. He'd used it many times in his dating career at Hogwarts.

"Ah, feel the romance," Hermione stated sarcastically, eyeing their surroundings.

"If you want romance, you're looking in the wrong place."

"I assumed as much," she replied. "But…what if I were looking for…I dunno, snogs?"

Draco looked up at her, a smirk twitching at his mouth. She was actually flirting. "Oh, I'll give you snogs…"

"It's taking you long enough."

"Come 'ere," Draco whispered to her seductively.

Hermione giggled – she didn't seem the type to giggle – and leaned against the nearest wall. "You come over here."

A few quick strides and he had her pinned against the brick wall by her arms, his lips planted firmly on hers. To his astonishment, he felt her tongue creeping along his bottom lip. A few seconds later their kissing had become less like kissing and more like violent mouth clashing.

Draco didn't take much time to think about it, but he found himself hungry for her. No other girl had invoked such a reaction from him.

"Draco," she muttered, her mouth still against his, "why do I want this so badly?"

"I don't know," he replied, backing off of her for a second. "Maybe it's fate."

Well, it was a stinky ending, and certainly not my best work, but it will just have to do. Hope you all enjoyed the Draco snoggage.


End file.
